The present invention relates to an automatic bead embroidering method which makes it possible to sew beads to a cloth by the use of an embroidering apparatus that is used for embroidery on cloth, and to an apparatus which is used together with the embroidering apparatus in order to perform the method.
Conventionally, decorative beads are made from materials such as glass, ceramics, metals, and plastics. Such beads are embroidered on cloth, as ornamentation for clothing. In such an embroidery, the beads are sewn to the cloth one by one using hand embroidering needles.
Meanwhile, in regard to clothing ornamentation other than beads, a method in which flat plate-form ornaments are sewn onto cloth is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 46-16985 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,650). In this method, flat plate-form ornaments are sewn onto the cloth, and the disclosure does not address cylindrical objects such as beads which cannot be embroidered.
Furthermore, multi-head type embroidering machines which perform embroidery by causing needles to perform a reciprocating motion perpendicular to a cloth, and shuttle type embroidering machines with a size of 15 yards or greater (formed by scaling up the multi-head type embroidering machines) have been in a practical use and are thus well known (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,030,495 and 3,062,163).
In the case of bead embroidering methods using conventional hand sewing techniques, considerable time and labor are required. Thus, the productivity of such a method is extremely low. This delays the finishing of bead-embroidered products such as clothing, so that there are problems in terms of late delivery dates. Such late delivery dates are an extremely serious problem in the clothing industry, which is subject to abrupt changes in fashion.
Furthermore, in the case of bead embroidering methods using hand sewing techniques, the quality and pattern of the embroidery are not uniform, and the reliability of the sewn attachments is poor. Embroidering threads on which beads are sewn may become slack, or may break so that multiple numbers of beads are lost. As a result, there are problems in terms of product quality.
Furthermore, since the conventional embroidering machines perform embroidery using embroidering threads with attached beads, the bead embroidering process itself cannot be automated.